WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) released the following statement today welcoming U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to Ohio. Today, Sec. Duncan will participate in a Community Partnerships panel discussion at East Tech High School in Cleveland, and tomorrow, will travel to Toledo to attend a Toledo Federation of Teachers Peer-Review Panel Presentation.

“I’m proud to welcome Secretary Duncan to Ohio, where he will meet the tireless teachers, school administrators, and families who work day in and day out to make Ohio schools some of the best in the country,” Brown said. “Our schools are preparing Ohio students to be talented, intelligent, and dynamic leaders. We must continue to invest in our state’s education system—from kindergarten to colleges—to ensure that our teachers have the resources they need to educate our children.”

As part of the “Education and the Economy” Back-to-School Bus Tour, several senior officials at the Department of Education—including Deputy Secretary Tony Miller, Assistant Secretary Brenda Dann-Messier, Deputy Assistant Secretary Michael Yudin, Senior Advisor Greg Darnieder, and Director of Faith-Based Partnerships Brenda Girton-Mitchell—will also hold a series of events and visits across the Cleveland and Toledo areas on Wednesday and Thursday. Those events include visits to Cuyahoga County Community College, Valley Forge High School, the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the University of Toledo, John Hay High School, Solon Middle School, and the Cleveland Metropolitan School Board. Representatives from Brown’s office will attend each of those events.

Brown has been a champion of efforts to strengthen K-12 education. He recently introduced the Ready Schools Act of 2011, a bill aimed at preparing elementary schools to serve all children. A “ready” elementary school has school principals and educators who understand and use developmentally appropriate curricula, assessments, and teaching practices; involves and engages families; and works cooperatively with the early childhood programs for younger children to create a positive transition into the early grades of school. He is an original sponsor of the DIPLOMA Act, legislation that would help states meet the challenges influencing student achievement by promoting a shared, comprehensive approach to education. The DIPLOMA Act would help states and school districts steadily close the achievement gap by building integrated, collaborative systems to support children by making schools the centers of community. Finally, Brown is a sponsor of the Measuring and Evaluating Trends for Reliability, Integrity, and Continued Success (METRICS) Act of 2011, a bill that would enable states and districts to apply for funding that would further implement integrated statewide education longitudinal data systems.

A strong supporter of the federal Pell Grant program, Brown is also the author of the Student Loan Simplification and Opportunity Act, legislation that would help borrowers avoid financial penalties for missed payments, save Ohio graduates money on their student loans, and bolster the federal Pell Grant program that helped send more than 240,000 Ohio students to college from 2008-2009.